Black Student-Defined Success in Developmental College Math

• In Event: Racism in Math Education: Where Responsibility Is Due

Abstract

Purpose
Traditionally, research and scholarship around Black college students and math has taken a deficit perspective (Harper, 2010; Martin; 2019). This work has resulted in a continued and growing disparity and inequity when it comes to Black achievement in collegiate math and contribute to the education debt (Ladson-Billings, 2006) owed to Black people. In this paper, we draw on Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Dis/ability Critical Race Theory (DisCrit) (Annamma, Connor, & Ferri, 2013) to deconstruct the notion of smartness (Leonardo & Broderick, 2011) and success in mathematics as simultaneously racist and ableist. To then combat both of these systems, using CRT, we center Black students, their experiences, and their strategies in a Developmental Math courses to redefine success in mathematics apart from ableism and racism.
Theoretical Framework
We use CRT, DisCrit, and an Anti-deficit framework (Harper, 2010) to center the experiences of Black students, along with their definitions of success and strategies for achieving success. Using these counterstories, we juxtaposition the definitions of success and learning held by the institutions of higher education with those held by Black students in Developmental Math.

Methods & Data Sources
This study draws on Counterstorytelling (Solórzano & Yosso, 2002) and Narrative Inquiry (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000) to center the stories of Black, Developmental Education Math students and draw on their narratives and stories to understand how they define success in math, in learning, and in higher education.

Results
Black Developmental Math students in this study defined success, not in the traditional white higher education standards based on grades and diplomas, but instead defined their learning in a community sense where they equated learning with being able to teach and share their learning with their community (Yosso, 2005). Black students also defined success related to how they were able to apply their learning to meet their career and/or academic aspirations. Black students drew on strategies related to community, collaboration, and spirituality (Wood & Hilton, 2012) to succeed in and beyond developmental math by their own standards.

Significance
Developmental Math, along with the overrepresentation of Black students therein, has stigmatized and stereotyped Black students and poor or lacking in college mathematics. In this, researchers, faculty, and administrators have cast Black students’ success as an impossibility in math (Martin, 2019). While refuting this, we expand notions of Black college student math success within the counterstories of Black, developmental math students and in so doing redefine and enrich concepts of learning and success.

Authors

• Maxine T. Roberts, Strong Start to Finish

• Naomi Nishi, Colorado State University - Fort Collins